Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Alan Thomas Burgess | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Christchurch, New Zealand | 1 May 1920||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 6 January 2021 Rangiora, New Zealand | (aged 100)||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling | Slow left-arm orthodox | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Relations |
Thomas Burgess (father) Gordon Burgess (cousin) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1940/41–1951/52 | Canterbury | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source:
CricketArchive, 5 January 2020 |
Alan Thomas Burgess (1 May 1920 – 6 January 2021) was a New Zealand cricketer who played first-class cricket for Canterbury from 1940 to 1952. He was a tank driver in World War II. From June 2020 to January 2021, Burgess was the world's oldest living first-class cricketer. [1]
Alan Burgess's father Thomas was a cricket umpire who stood in a Test match in Christchurch in 1933. [2] Alan's cousin was Gordon Burgess, a cricketer and administrator whose son Mark captained the New Zealand Test team in the 1970s. [3]
Burgess attended Phillipstown School in Christchurch before becoming an apprentice upholsterer. [4] [3] In his first first-class match in December 1940 Burgess played as a bowler, [5] taking 6 for 52 and 3 for 51 with his left-arm spin against Otago. [6] Later that season he batted as high as number seven, scoring 61 not out against Wellington. [7]
He joined the New Zealand Army when he turned 21 in 1941, and was soon posted overseas. [4] He served in Egypt and Italy as a tank driver in the 20th Armoured Regiment. [8] He fought in the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944. [9] [2] After the war ended in Europe he toured England with the New Zealand Services team from July to September 1945, playing as a batsman. He made another score of 61 not out in the only first-class match. [10]
In nine matches for Canterbury between 1945–46 and 1951–52, Burgess's top score was 42 against Auckland in 1950–51, when he put on 105 for the first wicket with Ray Emery. [11]
Burgess ran his own upholstery business in Christchurch. He was married twice, and had three children. He lived in Rangiora. [2] He became New Zealand's oldest living first-class cricketer when Tom Pritchard died in August 2017. [12]
Burgess celebrated his 100th birthday in May 2020. [13] On 13 June 2020, following the death of Vasant Raiji, Burgess became the oldest living first-class cricketer. [14] [15] He died in Rangiora on 6 January 2021 at the age of 100. [16] [17] Following Burgess' death, India's Raghunath Chandorkar became the oldest living first-class cricketer, [18] and Iain Gallaway became New Zealand's oldest living first-class cricketer. [19]